| A record five blacks have made the 2008 Forbes
magazine’s list of the world's wealthiest people—billionaires—for
the first time. They come from Ethiopia, Sudan, South African,
Nigeria and the United States.
Ethiopian-born Mohammed Al Amoudi is the richest black person
in the world with a total net worth of $9 billion, followed by
Nigerian commodities mogul Aliko Dangote, with assets worth $3.3
billion. African American TV personality Oprah Winfrey is worth
$2.5 billion, while Sudanese-born telecommunications mogul Mo
Ibrahim is worth $2.5 billion and South African mining magnate
Patrice Motsepe is worth $2.4 billion.
Amoudi, who emigrated to Saudi Arabia and made his fortune in
the construction and real estate businesses, is ranked 97th richest
man in the world, while Dangote, who owns a string of businesses
in the commodities industry, is ranked the 334th richest person
in the world, and Motsepe, who owns a 42% stake in the African
Rainbow Minerals (ARM), is ranked number 503.
Two others white South Africans also made the Forbes list: mining
magnate Nicky Oppenheimer and cigarette and luxury goods maker
Johann Rupert. Oppenheimer ranks number 173, while Rupert is number
284.
According to Forbes magazine, Dangote’s wealth is “inherited
and growing” and comes from sugar production, flour milling,
salt processing and cement manufacturing. His business interests
also now extend to oil and textile processing. Dangote recently
told a Nigerian newspaper that he was grateful to God, but was
confident that more Nigerians would make the list next year.
“The country is moving in the right direction,” he
said, according to This Day newspaper in Lagos. “Things
are happening. I am very confident that in the years to come,
Nigeria alone will boast of 100 billionaires who are entrepreneurs.
The signs are very good for Nigeria. Next year, I expect at least
five Nigerians to be on the list.”
Steve Forbes, the former Republican presidential candidate who’s
editor-in-chief of the family-run Forbes magazine, was equally
optimistic about the future of wealth. "The reason for this
explosion in wealth is that we're in the midst of a phenomenal
global boom," he said.
The 2008 Billionaire List includes American Warren Buffett, who
for has knocked off Bill Gates and Carlos Slim as the world's
richest man, with a fortune estimated at $62 billion, up $10 billion
from last year. Slim, a Mexican telecommunications mogul, is now
the second richest man on earth, with net worth of $60 billion,
followed by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, whose net work is about
$58 billion, according to the magazine.
At the age of 21, Dangote became a stock trader using a loan
from his uncle. After he built his company, The Dangote Group,
into a conglomerate with interests in sugar, flour milling, cement
and salt processing, his company was listed on the Nigerian stock
exchange last year The Dangote Group dominates the sugar market
in Nigeria and is the country's largest industrial group.
Meanwhile, Motsepe has been dubbed the "prince of mines"
by some of his countrymen because of the vast fortune he has amassed.
Over 15 years, Motsepe has turned a low-level mining services
business, ARM, into an industrial giant, which is now South Africa’s
first black-owned mining company, with 2007 revenue of $875 million
and is listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Driven by the Asian commodities boom, ARM's share price has rocketed
in the past year from $12 to $24, pushing Motsepe's net worth
to $2.4 billion.
Source: TNJ
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